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Cause and effect (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"cause and effect" |"cause of the effect" |"cause, and everything is effect" |"cause-and-effect" |"cause; then effect" |"this is the cause, this is the effect"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase research query: "cause effect"@5

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 2.46-47 -- New York, March 28, 1966:

The Bhagavad-gītā says that mā phaleṣu kadācana: "You cannot take the fruitive result of your work." Then if I do it, then what it will be? Now, he said, mā karma-phala-hetur bhūḥ: "Don't be cause of your activities. Then you will be bound by the interaction of your activity. Don't be cause of your activity. Then you shall be bound up by the effects of your activity. You don't be cause; then effect will not touch you." Mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi. Then if you say, "Better I shall not do anything," no, that also will not be permitted. You cannot stop acting; at the same time, you cannot take the fruitive result of your activities.

Lecture on BG 2.48-49 -- New York, April 1, 1966:

Yoga-sthaḥ means that you remain in spiritual consciousness, but at the same time, you go on with your usual work. You remain in spiritual consciousness and go on with your work. It is very difficult? I am working with bodily conception of life. How I can be situated in spiritual conception of life? So, this techniques is... saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya. Saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhanañjaya. Without being touched with bodily conception. And how it can be done? Siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṁ yoga ucyate. That neutrality will be that... In the former verse it has been already explained that "You have right to work but not for the result. Don't be cause of the effect of your result. Then you will be bound up."

Lecture on BG 2.51-55 -- New York, April 12, 1966:

Everyone busy, but when one is busy in such a work that leads to devotional service of the Lord, that busyness, that occupation, is the supermost. That occupation is the supermost. Sa vai puṁsaṁ paro dharmaḥ. Para means supermost. And that sort of occupation should be without any cause. Everything is done, everything is done, so far our duties are concerned—there is a cause. I do this because I want this. So there is a cause and effect. But this sort of busyness, this sort of occupation, which leads you to the devotional service of the Lord, it has no cause. Ahaituki. It has no cause. Why it has no cause? Just like a lover, or, say, lover, beloved, set aside. Just like mother. A mother loves the, her child. There is no cause. She does not know "Why I am loving." Automatically. Automatically, she loves.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Fiji, May 24, 1975:

If you want to know, here is Bhagavān. In many other places,

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. There is nothing accidental. Everything is there as cause and effect. That is clear idea.

Lecture on BG 10.3 -- New York, January 2, 1967:

Anādi means without any cause. Now, Kṛṣṇa may be spiritual, but there are other spiritual bodies also. There are many spiritual bodies, and we are also having spiritual body, but it is now covered. But our spiritual body is also due to Kṛṣṇa. Because everything is born, everything is born. So my spiritual body is also born. It is not born exactly, but because we have no idea about the spiritual existence, therefore the cause and effect we have to take it for granted.

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, September 30, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa has explicitly explained that brahma-sūtra-padaiś caiva hetumadbhir. Hetumadbhir viniścitaṁ. The Brahma-sūtra is called therefore nyāya-prasthāna, with logic and reason, hetumadbhir, cause and effect, Everything. Because people like to understand on the basis of philosophy and reasoning everything. Yes, that is required.

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, September 30, 1973:

Simply to know, "Kṛṣṇa was born at Mathurā, He was the nephew of Kaṁsa and son of..." That is also nice. But you should try to understand tattvataḥ. That tattvataḥ means:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

That is tattvataḥ, the cause of all causes. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Cause of all causes. Everything has got cause and effect, cause and effect. So Kṛṣṇa is the original cause.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 6, 1971:

God means controller, I have several times explained. But here in our experience we see that one controller is controlled by another controller. Nobody is absolute controller. Therefore nobody is Absolute Truth. But there is..., there must be the Absolute Truth. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), as it has begun, "the source of all emanations."

Now, what is that source of emanation? What is the nature? One has to accept the cause and effect. As we have got experience, in everything there is a cause and the effect. So the supreme cause, supreme cause means who has no more cause-sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on SB 1.5.11 -- New Vrindaban, June 10, 1969:

So if we want to stop these causal activities, then, as it is stated: yāvān na prītir mayi vāsudeve. Unless you develop your love of Godhead, there is no other way to stop this causal, cause and effect. The cause is this and the effect is this. Cause and effect. The whole material world is going on, cause and effect. People do not consider that why there are so many, 8,400,000 species of life. There must be something. Some of them foolishly think that once one gets this human form of life he does not glide down. Is it not? He remains in the human form of life. No. There are many instances. Just like Bharata Mahārāja, he got the body of a deer. There are so many instances.

Lecture on SB 1.16.17 -- Los Angeles, January 12, 1974:

Anyone who has not surrendered to the principle of Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja... (BG 18.66). That is the test. If he has not surrendered to God, or Kṛṣṇa, then he is mūḍha. That is also explained in the Bhāgavata that ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninaḥ. Why they are so mūḍhas? Just like cause and effect. If a man has no money, he is called poor, poor man. Similarly, if a man has no such sense to surrender unto God, he is mūḍha. He is mūḍha. So ye 'nye... But thinking that he has become liberated, he has become one with God, and he is God Himself, everyone is God. Therefore they are mūḍha.

Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Los Angeles, July 14, 1974:

Vyavasāyī means one who knows business particularly. Vyavasāya. Or one who knows confidently, "It is... This is the cause, this is the effect." So those who know that Kṛṣṇa is the origin of everything, so they are fixed up in Kṛṣṇa. Vyavasāyātmikā buddhir ekeha. One. Just depend on Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 3.25.43 -- Bombay, December 11, 1974:

If you apply yourself, engage yourself in bhakti-yoga, then janayaty āśu vairāgyam, cause and effect. As soon as you engage yourself in devotional service of Vāsudeva under the direction of śāstra and spiritual master, then janayaty āśu vairāgyam. As you are practically experiencing that since you have come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement you have no more interest material activities no more interest, that is vairāgya.

Lecture on SB 3.26.10 -- Bombay, December 22, 1974:

So Kṛṣṇa is not nirviśeṣa; He is saviśeṣa. But this material world is actually nirviśeṣa, but it appears something like varieties. The same thing, the example, I have already given: a lump of matter—either you take earth or water or gold or silver—and you can make varieties of things, cause and effect. But that is nirviśeṣa. But the spiritual world, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), as it is said in the Vedānta-sūtra, the origin of everything, the cause of all causes, that is full of spiritual varieties. That is not nirviśeṣa.

Lecture on SB 6.1.13-14 -- New York, July 27, 1971:

So this is paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi. They are worshiping the Supreme Truth, Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

Cause of all causes. Relative truth is the effect of the Absolute Truth. But He's Absolute Truth. He's the supreme cause, and everything is effect. Cause of all causes. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).

Lecture on SB 7.9.30 -- Mayapur, March 8, 1976:

So Prahlāda Mahārāja, Vaiṣṇava, he understands that "You are the only origin of everything." Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). Ekas tvam eva jagat. The cosmic manifestation is changing, but the real cause is ekas tvam eva: "My Lord, You are the..." Ekas tvam eva jagad etat amuṣya yat tvam: "The cause and effect both You are, the cause and effect." There is no different cause. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). That is also confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā:

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Bs. 5.1)

He is cause and effect both, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam: (BG 9.4) "I am the original cause."

Lecture on SB 7.9.31 -- Mayapur, March 9, 1976:

Cause and effect, sad-asad. One disappears, the cause appears, disappears, and the effect comes into being. The very good example is given here, aṣṭi-tarvoḥ. Aṣṭi means seed, and the... From the aṣṭi, from the seed, a big banyan tree comes out. At that time the aṣṭi, the seed, disappears. A tree is manifestation, so this is example of sad-asat. Aṣṭi, the seed, disappears, and the tree is manifest. So the creation of God is like that. Therefore, in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (Bg 7.10). Bīja, aṣṭi, or seed, He is the root cause of everything.

Lecture on SB 7.9.31 -- Mayapur, March 9, 1976:

Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja says, idaṁ sad-asad-īśa. Sad-asat, kārya kāraṇa, cause and effect. Just like you have got a cloth. Cloth is made of cotton. So from cotton we prepare thread, and from thread we prepare cloth. So when the cloth is there, the thread has disappeared. When the thread is there, the cotton has disappeared. They are called sad-asat. Sat means which is existing, and asad means which is no longer existing. So this material world is asat. It is simply for the time being an exhibition. So we have to find out the real existence, sanātana existence. That is Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 7.9.47 -- Vrndavana, April 2, 1976:

So we have to practice this bhakti-yoga according to the direction of the authorities. Then you'll realize Kṛṣṇa. Then the cause and effect, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam... (Bs. 5.1). Everything will be realized and every moment you will see Kṛṣṇa.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.107-109 -- San Francisco, February 15, 1967:

This bodily existence has a source, my father. My father has a source, his father. His father... Go on. There must be one supreme source. That is God. Simple to understand. Is it very difficult to understand? The supreme cause, He is God. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is described in Brahma-saṁhitā, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1). Kāraṇa means "cause," and sarva means "all." There are cause, cause, cause and effect, cause and effect, cause and eff... When you reach to the supreme cause, He's Kṛṣṇa. He is Kṛṣṇa.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Seattle, October 4, 1968:

Sarva-kāraṇa: everything has got cause, cause and effect. So you go on finding out what is the cause of this, what is the cause of this, what is the cause of this, then you'll find Kṛṣṇa. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam. And Vedānta says, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). You cannot say something has sprang automatically. That is foolishness. Everything has a source of generation. Everything. That is intelligence. Don't say... Just like in modern science says that "There was a chunk and there was creation—perhaps." That is also "perhaps," you see. So this kind of knowledge is useless. You must find out.

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

Anādiḥ, anādiḥ means, because nobody is controller above Him; therefore He is the supreme controller; He has no beginning. Anādi, ādiḥ: and He is the beginning of everything. Anādir ādir govindaḥ—His name is Govinda. Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, there are many names. There are millions of names of God. We are just mentioning one or two. So anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam: the cause of all causes. Everything has got cause and effect. So therefore Arjuna has decided to take knowledge from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Being.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: He is saying that there is no such thing as cause and effect.

Prabhupāda: No. That is nonsense. The supreme cause is God. Sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1).

Śyāmasundara: Another example, he says that the body has no causal influence on the soul, neither does the soul affect or interact with the body.

Prabhupāda: That is another nonsense. The soul desires something, and to fulfill that desire he gets a certain type of body; therefore soul is the cause of manufacturing a type of body.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Prabhupāda: We don't see the cause and effect; we see that ultimate cause is Kṛṣṇa. "By Kṛṣṇa's desire we have got this nice thing. Offer it to Kṛṣṇa and eat it," that's all.

Śyāmasundara: So whether the water's parting allowed the rock to fall in, or whether the rock caused the water to part, it doesn't really matter.

Prabhupāda: It is ultimately depending on God's will. That is the explanation.

Philosophy Discussion on Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz:

Śyāmasundara: He says that there is no cause and effect relationship between monads.

Prabhupāda: That is not clear. Once he says there is no cause. There is cause. There is no other cause than God. That is definite. The real cause is God.

Śyāmasundara: His idea is that when the bird landed, the fruit coincidentally fell. There is no cause between the bird and the fruit falling.

Prabhupāda: No. We say if Kṛṣṇa desired, it would not have fallen. Kṛṣṇa desired it. Kṛṣṇa desires "Let it fall down"; therefore it falls. That is the cause. Kṛṣṇa desires that "Let the fruit fall down and the crow fly away."

Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:

Śyāmasundara: He postulates three laws whereby perceptions are associated or connected with one another. He says first of all, there is the principle of resemblance. For example, I see a picture and it impels me to think of the original of that picture. The second principle is the principle of contiguity. If I mention a room in a building, this impels me to think of other rooms in other buildings. And the third principle is the principle of cause and effect, just like if I think about a wound I automatically think of pain. So in these three ways he thinks that our whole being is made up of this stream of ideas, association of ideas, one idea follows another, perpetually.

Prabhupāda: That is called relative world. That is the meaning of relative world. You cannot understand what is father without a son; you cannot understand son without a father. You cannot understand husband without a wife. This world is like that. It is called relative world.

Philosophy Discussion on David Hume:

Śyāmasundara: He says that there is no such thing as a cause-and-effect relationship. Just like, for example, we associate friction with heat, but he says that it's a mistake to assume that friction causes heat or possesses any power which must inevitably produce heat. He says that it is a mere repetition of two incidents, so that the effect habitually attends the cause, but it is not necessarily a consequence of it. So the fact that I rub my hands together and there is heat produced, I am used to assuming that the friction causes heat, but he says that it is not necessarily so. Whenever there is friction, there is heat, but that is only because they are associated with each other, not that one causes the other.

Prabhupāda: Then how are they associated?

Śyāmasundara: That one habitually attends the other, but not necessarily as a consequence of it.

Prabhupāda: But who made this law? As soon as they associate, immediately after friction there is heat. So there is a systematic law. The association may be accidental, but as soon as there is friction between the two associates, the law is there must be heat. So there is systematic law. Either you rub the hands, or I rub the hands, the law is that heat must be there, either in your hands or in my hands. That is law.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: So his third antimony is the causal, or relation (?) of the world. He says, first of all, thesis: "Causality in conformity with laws of nature is not the only causality from which all the phenomena of the world can be derived. To explain these phenomena it is necessary to suppose that there is also a free causality." And the antithesis is, "There is no freedom, but all that comes to be in the world takes place entirely in accordance with laws of nature." So on the one hand he is saying that sometimes we observe an exception to the laws of causality, that something happens which is completely uncaused or unexplainable, so that there must be no such thing as a strict law of cause and effect.

Prabhupāda: No. There is, strictly. He cannot explain—you do not know—but there must be some cause. Therefore ultimate cause is Kṛṣṇa, or God.

Śyāmasundara: Sometimes when there is some aberration...

Prabhupāda: There is no such thing as accident. We do not accept anything as accident. There cannot be any accident.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: So according to one point of view, Hume's point of view, cause and effect are not necessarily related, that they are habitually connected.

Prabhupāda: The scientist, he'll say that the father begets the child. Why it is not related? It is simply lunacy not to believe this. Where is the instance that without father some child has taken birth? Where is such instance? He himself is talking such nonsense. He is born by his father. The cause is his father. Similarly, his father is also the effect of his father. Therefore there is supreme father, father of this cosmic manifestation. How you can deny it? That is the defect of the speculators: they contradict themselves.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: So this Hume has said that cause and effect are habitual assumptions, that we can naturally assume that a certain effect follows a certain cause. But it is not necessary that the cause makes the effect.

Prabhupāda: No. We disagree with that. Without cause there cannot be any effect. Let him prove that this is..., there is an existence without any cause. Then he can say like that.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Śyāmasundara: This is just what Kant is saying. He says, no, still we are born with an idea of cause and effect. This is a priori...

Prabhupāda: No. This is fact: cause and effect is always there.

Śyāmasundara: He says that intuitively, when we see something, we understand what is cause and what is effect.

Prabhupāda: You cannot understand what is the cause, but there must be cause. There must be cause. Without cause, nothing can happen. That is his imperfect knowledge, that something may happen without cause. No. That does not happen.

Śyāmasundara: For example, the idea of the bird flying on the limb and the fruit. Either the bird caused the fruit to fall, or it fell, but the cause is still there.

Prabhupāda: Yes. Either you accept this cause or that cause, that is a different thing, but cause must be there. So this example is given that they are fighting unnecessarily to find out the cause. But cause is there. Just like some foolish person enquired when the living entity became fallen. What is the use of this question? Simply take it is fallen.

Śyāmasundara: There is a cause.

Prabhupāda: There is a cause. Now, you may not find out the cause, just like here is a diseased man, and there is some cause. So instead of finding out the cause, you go on treating the disease. Get it cured. But cause must be there. Otherwise he is infected, why others are not infected? The cause must be there.

Philosophy Discussion on Charles Darwin:

Prabhupāda: No, no, no. If from monkey, man is coming, so then when monkey develops into man, the monkey should not exist. Kārya-kāraṇam, kārya-kāraṇam, cause and effect. When the effect is there, the cause is finished now.

Śyāmasundara: The monkey didn't cause the man; they came from the same common ancestor. That is their explanation. They had the same common ancestor.

Prabhupāda: That is, we say that all we come from God, the same ancestors, the same father. What is the difference?

Karandhara: Everyone has the same ancestor.

Prabhupāda: The same ancestor. What is the new thing?

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Śyāmasundara: He says there are five ways. All knowledge, he says, is cause and effect. So he said we can determine what is the cause and what is the effect of anything according to these five methods. One is the method of agreement, that is, if we have two or more instances of a phenomenon and there is one common circumstance behind both of them, that we can conclude that that circumstance is the cause of the effect. Just like if we observe that two stones are thrown into the water, and that each stone is thrown by someone, then we can determine that throwing is the common cause of that stone's going into the water, the common circumstance.

Prabhupāda: Why this example? What is the value of this example?

Śyāmasundara: Any example. Anything that is caused, if there are two instances of it-two balls are dropping—we can conclude, if we studied both of them, that they were both moved by some person, that that person is the cause of their falling. If there is a common circumstance for any phenomenon.

Prabhupāda: Any phenomenon that has natural law, so that is the cause. And if we go on, so what is the cause of that natural law? Then ultimately we find Kṛṣṇa. Everything, janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1), everything has got a cause, original source. So if you make actually research work what is the cause of this, what is the cause of this, that is called darśana. Darśana means seeing, finding out the cause. Therefore philosophy is called darśana-śāstra, to see the cause of the cause, cause of the cause, cause of the cause. So ultimately they have found Kṛṣṇa is the cause, original cause of everything.

Philosophy Discussion on John Dewey:

Śyāmasundara: We have come to the same question we were discussing with Marx: whether changing external environment is prerequisite to improvement or changing the consciousness is prerequisite. And you answered before, in Marx's case, that if we change the consciousness, then the environment becomes changed...

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Śyāmasundara: ...rather than vice versa. Also, to a certain extent the other way. If we change the environment, the consciousness changes.

Prabhupāda: It is the cause and effect. One is the cause of the other; other is the cause of the other. But actually it is the consciousness that requires to be changed—either by hearing from authority or by circumstances.

Philosophy Discussion on Jacques Maritain:

Prabhupāda: So that cause is find some cause and again you find out the cause, again you find the cause, and then you find out cause and effect, you study effect and find out the cause, then when you come to the ultimate cause, which has no other cause, then that is Kṛṣṇa, that is God.

Philosophy Discussion on Bertrand Russell:

Śyāmasundara: He says that the cause-effect relationship between things has very little effect on genuine events which can cause reality.

Prabhupāda: No. There must be cause and effect.

Śyāmasundara: Yes. He says there is cause and effect, but these have little effect on the main events that comprise reality.

Prabhupāda: No. There's a cause, a supreme cause, sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam (Bs. 5.1), supreme cause. They'll have to find out the supreme cause. Just like I was eating that fruit, what is called? (indistinct) what is the English of (indistinct)? All right. Take any fruit, any fruit, I am eating one fruit. Take orange. So take each piece of orange parts, there are so many seeds, and each seed there is a tree, and each tree there is millions of fruit, and each fruit there is millions of seeds, and each seed, there is a (indistinct) tree. So who has made this? Speak up. Therefore you have to find out the supreme cause. That is knowledge.

Philosophy Discussion on Thomas Henry Huxley:

Hayagrīva: He says, "There is no external power which could affect the sequence of cause and effect which gives rise to karma. None but the will of the subject of the karma which could put an end to it." Now by willing to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, the individual allows Kṛṣṇa to put an end to his karma.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: Is that...? So Kṛṣṇa is called Mukunda.

Prabhupāda: Yes. So our idea is(?) that is Mukunda.

Hayagrīva: So Huxley has no idea that, of the, of this.

Page Title:Cause and effect (Lectures)
Compiler:Labangalatika
Created:19 of Jun, 2010
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=36, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:36